2011 NFL Draft: Ranking Top 25 AP College Teams That Generated Most Selections

Now that the 2011 NFL Draft has concluded and the dust has settled, I thought it would be an interesting exercise to look at the question of success for collegiate programs and how that translates in to sending players on to the next level, the NFL.

How do you define success? Is it a winning season, a bowl game appearance, winning your conference, or something else? Since you can see that could be a broad based topic, we are going to narrow it down, for the purposes of this article, to being ranked as one of the final 25 teams in the Associated Press poll that concluded the 2010 season.

So for those 25 teams that made the grade, who is churning out the most players in to the NFL? Also, what rounds are they being drafted in? As a general rule of thumb, the majority of NFL draft picks that go in rounds 1-3 are considered to be starters, while the players drafted in rounds 4-7 are thought to be projects or are added for depth purposes or special teams. Of course there are exceptions to the rule, but I believe the generalizations I made are correct.

We will take a look at the NFL Drafts from 2010 and 2011 and see how consistent these 25 colleges are at generating players that proceed to the NFL. If your favorite college did not make the AP Top 25 list, you can generate your own figures and compare it to this ranked list. Enjoy.

Tied for 20) Michigan State- Three Players

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Michigan State finished the 2010 season, as the 14th ranked team in the final AP Poll. Interestingly enough, the Spartans have not had one player drafted in the first three rounds in either the 2010 or 2011 NFL Draft.

They had two players drafted this year in rounds 4 - 7, Greg Jones and Chris L. Rucker. They had one player drafted in 2010 in rounds 4 - 7, Jeremy Ware.

Tied for 6) Virgina Tech: Eight Players

Virginia Tech finished the 2010 season as the 16h ranked team in the final AP Poll.

In the past two drafts, they have generated one player that went in the first three rounds each year. In 2011, it was Ryan Williams and in 2010 it was Jason Worilds.

In rounds 4 - 7, Virginia Tech has six players drafted. In the 2011 NFL Draft, it was Rashad Carmichael and Tyrod Taylor. In the 2010 NFL Draft, it was Ed Wang, Kam Chancellor, Brent Bowden and Cody Grimm.

Tied for 6) TCU: Eight Players

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In 2010, TCU was the second ranked team in the final AP Poll.

In the 2011 NFL Draft, TCU had one player drafted in the first three rounds, Andy Dalton. In rounds 4 - 7, they had four players drafted; Marcus Cannon, Jeremy Kerley, Colin Jones and Malcolm Williams.

In the 2010 NFL Draft, TCU had two players that were drafted in the first three rounds, Jerry Hughes and Daryl Washington. They had one player that went in rounds 4 - 7, Marshall Newhouse.

5) Ohio State: Nine Players

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Ohio State finished the 2010 season as the 5th ranked team in the final AP Poll.

Out of our top five teams in this list, Ohio State is the team with the fewest players that were drafted in rounds 1 - 3, as they only have one player going that high. That was Cam Heyward, in the 2011 NFL Draft.

In rounds 4 - 7, Ohio State has had eight players drafted. In 2011, it was Chimdi Chekwa, Jermale Hines, Brian Rolle and Ross Homan. In 2010, it was Thaddeus Gibson, Kurt Coleman, Doug Worthington and Austin Spitler.

4) Nebraska: 10 Players

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Nebraska finished the 2010 season as the 20th rated team in the final AP Poll.

Nebraska has seen 10 of their players drafted over the past two years. One player has gone in the first three rounds each of the past two years. This year it was Prince Amukamara and last year it was Ndamukong Suh.

3) Oklahoma: 11 Players

Oklahoma finished the 2010 season as the 6th rated team in the final AP Poll.

In the 2011 NFL Draft, Oklahoma had one player drafted in the first three rounds, DeMarco Murray. In rounds 4 - 7, there were three players drafted; Quinton Carter, Jonathan Nelson and Jeremy Beal.

In the 2010 NFL Draft, Oklahoma had four players drafted in the first three rounds; Sam Bradford, Gerald McCoy, Trent Williams and Jermaine Gresham. In rounds 4 - 7, they had three players drafted; Dominique Franks, Keenan Clayton and Brody Eldridge.

Tied for First) LSU: 12 Players

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LSU finished the 2010 season with the 8th ranking in the final AP Poll.

In the 2011 NFL Draft, LSU had five players that were drafted in the first three rounds; Patrick Peterson, Kelvin Sheppard, Stevan Ridley, Drake Nevis and Joe Barksdale. They had one player drafted in rounds 4 - 7, Lazarius Levingtson.

In the 2010 NFL Draft, LSU had two players drafted in the first three rounds, Brandon LeFell and Chad Jones. They had four players drafted in rounds 4 - 7, Al Woods, Perry Riley, Charles Scott and Trindon Holliday.

Tied for First) Alabama: 12 Players

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Alabama finished up the 2010 season as the 10th ranked team in the final AP Poll.

Alabama had four players drafted in the first three rounds of the 2011 NFL Draft, which were Marcell Dareus, Julio Jones, Mark Ingram and James Carpenter. They had one player that was drafted in rounds 4 - 7, Greg McElroy.

Alabama had five players drafted in the first three rounds of the 2010 NFL Draft, which were Rolando McClain, Kareem Jackson, Terrence Cody, Javier Arenas and Mike Johnson. They had two players that were drafted in rounds 4 - 7, Brandon Deaderick and Marquis Johnson.

Conclusion

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Looking at all the schools that finished in the top 25 in the AP Poll in 2010, there are three programs that stood out that are sending the most players to the NFL in the money rounds, rounds 1 - 3. Those programs are Alabama (9 players), LSU (7 players) and Oklahoma (5 players).

For those fans of schools that are also sending multiple players to the NFL, but the college failed to finish in the top 25 of the AP Poll in 2010, here are some other schools and their results in the 2011 NFL Draft: